The present invention is directed to an in-the-ear hearing aid comprising a housing with a face plate that has a first opening for a battery compartment to which a second opening is connected and a lamina or plate-like member which forms a carrier for hearing aid components is received in this second opening.
In commercially-available hearing aids of the above type, a lamina or small thin plate is fashioned approximately triangularly. One edge of this lamina or plate simultaneously forms an edge of an opening of the battery compartment and carries a battery contact spring which extends perpendicular to the plane of the lamina to form a side wall of the battery compartment that is also fashioned as a spring. A corner of the lamina that is fashioned considerably rounded lies opposite this edge having the contact spring for the battery. The rounded edge of the lamina carries a control element and is arranged neighboring the tragus and the antitragus of an ear. This position for the control element makes the actuation of the control element more difficult.
With the exception of the edge of the lamina limiting the opening of the battery compartment, all other edges of the lamina comprise abutting surfaces that reside or extend perpendicular vis-a-vis the plane of the lamina and correspond with other abutting surfaces of the face plate. All abutting surfaces have weakly fashioned contours similar to a channel spring connection. A form-fit seat of the lamina in the face plate is, thus, only achieved to the effect that the surface of the face plate coincides with the level of the surface of the lamina. The lamina, however, only remains in this intended position when the battery charger or a battery is inserted into the battery compartment and presses against the lamina via the battery contact spring fashioned as a side wall of the battery compartment. The abutting surfaces are thereby held against one another. The abutting surfaces can, thus, separate from one another, given the frequently required replacement of the respectively used battery. The lamina can then fall into the inside of the hearing aid housing. As a result thereof and due to the required adjustment of the lamina in the second opening, expensive hearing aid components can be damaged, particularly when these jobs are carried out by an untrained hearing aid user by himself. In order to eliminate these deficiencies, the abutting surfaces have already been spot-glued to one another. As a result thereof, a person skilled in the art can only remove the lamina from the hearing aid for repair work at the hearing aid after overcoming the relatively great adhesion. This exertion of force can, in turn, lead to damage to hearing aid components. The manipulation of the known hearing aid is, thus, rendered more difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,353, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference thereto and which claims priority from German Gebrauchsmuster 81 06 942, discloses a hearing aid of the initially-cited type, wherein the second opening is connected to the first opening and is fashioned as a recess at the inside of the face plate. The second opening fashioned as a recess completely surrounds the first opening. A mounting plate introduced into the second opening or recess completely fills the second opening and, itself, contains an opening that corresponds with the first opening. Due to the size of the mounting lamina that is, therefore, required, the known lamina must be introduced into the second opening of the face plate before the face plate is firmly joined to the housing, for example by gluing. In the connection between the housing and the face plate, the lamina can no longer be removed from the hearing aid.
German Published Application 33 09 175 discloses a hearing aid of the initially-cited type, wherein a box and a volume control form a carriage. The carriage can be introduced perpendicularly to the plane of the face plate through a second opening into a clearance of the hearing aid so that the cover plate comprises a first opening that is closed by a battery drawer or charger in a hinged condition thereof, and wherein the lateral expansion of the first opening forms the second opening. In addition, continuations directed into the hearing aid or ear trough are provided at the edge of the second opening. These continuations comprise guide channels. In order to hold the carriage, the side walls of the carriage are resiliently executed and comprise catch noses at their ends. The holding mechanism for a carriage is extremely involved, because of the resilient fashioning of the side walls and because of the catch noses. Moreover, the latched carriage can be released from the latched position only with a relatively great exertion of force, similar to the case of spot-gluing. The continuations that proceed parallel to one another and project into the hearing aid perpendicular the plane of the face plate will impede service work and can, therefore, be easily damaged.